CONTROLLING DATA ACCESS TO AND FROM AN RFID DEVICE

• US 20100073147A1
• Filed: 05/09/2007
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. (Xiaomi Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Guajardo Merchan, Jorge, Conrado, Claudine Viegas
• Granted Patent: US 8,334,757 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.510
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07309 Means for preventing undesired reading or writing from or onto record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3278 using physically unclonable functions [PUF]

Abstract

It is described a method for controlling data access to and from an RFID device (230). Thereby, an RFID reading device (210b) authenticates himself to the RFID device (230) before the RFID device (230) communicates with the RFID reading device (210b). The RFID device (230) is equipped with a physically uncloneable function (237), which is adapted to produce a unique but unpredictable response signal (R1, R2) upon receiving a predefined challenging signal (C1, C2). During an enrolment of the RFID device a first response signal (R1) being uniquely associated with a first challenging signal (C1) is stored in a memory (238) of the RFID device (230). The first challenging signal (C1) represents a password for opening further data communication with the RFID device (230). When a RFID reading device queries the RFID device (230) with a second challenging signal (C2), the RFID device (230) compares the corresponding response signal (R2) with the response (R1) being stored during enrollment and only if there is a match, responds with its identifier (ID).

Claims

1. A method for controlling the data access to and from an RFID device (130, 230) having a data memory (138, 238) and a physical uncloneable function (137, 237), wherein

the physical uncloneable function (137, 237) is adapted to produce a unique but unpredictable response signal (R1, R2, R3, R4) upon receiving a predefined challenging signal (C1, C2, C3, C4),

the method comprising the steps of:

sending a first challenging signal (C1) to the RFID device (230),

producing a first response signal (R1) based on the first challenging signal (C1) by the physical uncloneable function (237),

storing the first response signal (R1) in the data memory (238) of the RFID device (230),

sending a request signal to the RFID device (230), wherein the request signal comprises a second challenging signal (C2),

producing a second response signal (R2) based on the second challenging signal (C2) by the physical uncloneable function (237),

comparing the second response signal (R2) with the first response signal (R1), and

providing data access to the RFID device (230) if the second response signal (R2) is identical to the first response signal (R1).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the physical uncloneable function (137, 237) is inseparable from the RFID device (130, 230).

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data being stored in the data memory (238) of the RFID device are individual identification data (ID), which in particular represent an electronic product code (EPC) of a good or item, which can be tagged with the RFID device (230).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the step of sending a first challenging signal (C1) to the RFID device (230) is carried out by a first entity (250a),

the step of sending a request signal (C2) to the RFID device (230) is carried out by a second entity (250b), and

the method further comprises the step of:

transmitting the first challenging signal (C1) from the first entity (250a) to the second entity (250b) in a secure way.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of attaching the RFID device (330) to a product (305).

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of writing data (TS1) into the data memory (238) of the RFID device (230) if the second response signal (R2) is identical to the first response signal (R1).

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

sending a third challenging signal (C3) to the RFID device (230) if the second response signal (R2) is identical to the first response signal (R1),

producing a third response signal (R3) based on the third challenging signal (C3) by the physical uncloneable function (237), and

storing the third response signal (R3) in the data memory (238) of the RFID device (230).

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the first challenging signal (C1) is sent to a plurality of RFID devices (230) each having a data memory (238) and a physically uncloneable function (237),

for each of the plurality of RFID devices (230) an individual first response signal (R1) is produced based on the first challenging signal (C1) by the respective physically uncloneable function (237), and

for each of the plurality of RFID devices (230) the individual first response signal (R1) is stored in the respective data memory (238).

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the request signal comprising the second challenging signal (C2) is sent to at least some of the RFID devices (230),

for each of the at least some of the RFID devices (230) an individual second response signal (R2) is produced based on the second challenging signal (C2) by the respective physical uncloneable function (237),

for each of the at least some of the RFID devices (230) the individual second response signal (R2) is compared with the respective individual first response signal (R1), and

for each of the at least some of the RFID devices (230) data access is provided if the respective second response signal (R2) is identical to the respective first response signal (R1).

10. An RFID device comprising:

a processing element (239),

a data memory (238) being coupled to the processing element (239), and

a physical uncloneable function (237) being coupled to the processing element (239), wherein

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable first response signal (R1) based on a first challenging signal (C1),

the RFID device (230) is adapted to store the first response signal (R1) in the data memory (238),

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable second response signal (R2) based on a second challenging signal (C2),

the processing element (239) is adapted to compare the second response signal (R2) with the first response signal (R1), and

the RFID device (230) is adapted to provide data access if the second response signal (R2) is identical to the first response signal (R1).

11. The RFID device according to claim 10, wherein the physical uncloneable function (237) is inseparable from the RFID device (230).

12. An RFID reading device comprising a data processor (118), wherein the RFID reading device (110) is adapted to communicate with an RFID device (130, 230) according to claim 10 by sending a second challenging signal (C2), which is identical to the first challenging signal (C1).

13. An RFID system comprising:

an RFID device (130, 230) comprising;

a processing element (239),

a data memory (238) being coupled to the processing element (239), and

a physical uncloneable function (237) being coupled to the processing element (239), wherein

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable first response signal (R1) based on a first challenging signal (C1),

the RFID device (230) is adapted to store the first response signal (R1) in the data memory (238),

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable second response signal (R2) based on a second challenging signal (C2),

the processing element (239) is adapted to compare the second response signal (R2) with the first response signal (R1), and

the RFID device (230) is adapted to provide data access if the second response signal (R2) is identical to the first response signal (R1),

a first RFID reading device (110, 210a) according to claim 12.

14. An RFID system comprising:

an RFID device (130, 230), comprising

a processing element (239),

a data memory (238) being coupled to the processing element (239), and

a physical uncloneable function (237) being coupled to the processing element (239), wherein

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable first response signal (R1) based on a first challenging signal (C1),

the RFID device (230) is adapted to store the first response signal (R1) in the data memory (238),

the physical uncloneable function (237) is adapted to produce an unique but unpredictable second response signal (R2) based on a second challenging signal (C2),

the processing element (239) is adapted to compare the second response signal (R2) with the first response signal (R1), and

the RFID device (230) is adapted to provide data access if the second response signal (R21 is identical to the first response signal (R1),

a first RFID reading device (110, 210a) according to claim 12.

a second RFID reading device (110, 210b) according to claim 12, wherein the first RFID reading device (110, 210a) is assigned to a first entity (250a) of a product supply chain and

the second RFID reading device (110, 210b) is assigned to a second entity (250b) of the product supply chain.